Kate undertook an AHRC-funded PhD at the University of Manchester's Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). She was supervised by Professor Carsten Timmermann (CHSTM) and Professor Stephen Parker (German Studies). Her doctoral research focused on the way in which diabetes mellitus was treated, perceived and researched in the former German Democratic Republic. Her thesis (entitled ''Conditionally healthy and able to work': diabetes prevention, care and research in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), c. 1949-1990') was submitted in February 2019 and successfully defended in April 2019.

Kate is particularly interested in the following areas of research:
Open Access Publication
Open Research
Scholarly Communications
Research Data Management (RDM)
Rights Retention
East German History
Medical History